''Ireangelus'' is a genus of

kleptoparasitic Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when f ...

spider wasp Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary (with the exception of some group-ne ...

s from the sub-family

Ceropalinae The Ceropalinae are a subfamily of the Pompilidae, the spider wasps, containing two genera, whose members are kleptoparasitic Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes ...

of the family

Pompilidae Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary (with the exception of some group-ne ...

. The genus has a pan tropical distribution, being known from

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n, eastern

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, and Madagascan Zoogeographic regions being best represented in the Neotropics. ''Irenangelus'' is closely related to the more widespread genus ''

Ceropales ''Ceropales'' is a genus of kleptoparasitic spider wasps from the sub-family Ceropalinae of the family Pompilidae Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopoli ...

'', the two genera forming a monophyletic subfamily,

within the

. This is regarded as the most basal grouping of the Pompilidae but this view is problematic because of the kleptoparasitic life history of the Ceropalines, it is now considered that they Ceropalines and other pompilids evolved from a common

ectoparasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasi ...

ancestor.

Biology

In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

species of ''Irenangelus'' are known to be kleptoparasites of '' Auplopus nyemitawa'' and '' Tachypompilus analis'', and ''I. eberlmrdi'' is a kleptoparasite of '' Auplopus semialatus''. The kleptoparasitic behaviour of ''I. lukosanus'' was observed and it pursues its host pompilid '' Platydialepis ryoheii'' as the latter transports its prey, '' Heteropoda forcipata'' to the nest. The cleptoparasitic wasp pounces on the spider and extends her gaster, trying to insert the tip into a slit of the prey's booklung.

Species

Some species included in ''Irenangelus'' include: *'' Irenangelus clarus'' (Evans, 1969) *'' Irenangelaus crossopus'' (Kimsey & Wasbauer, 2004) *'' Irenangelus eberhardi'' (Evans, 1987) *'' Irenangelus evansi'' (Kimsey & Wasbauer, 2004) *'' Irenangelus furtivus'' (Evans, 1969) *'' Irenangelus hikosamis'' (Wahis, 2007) *'' Irenangelus hispaniolae'' (Evans, 1969) *'' Irenangelus ichneumoides'' (Ducke, 1908) *'' Irenangelus intrusus'' Banks *'' Ireangelus lucidus'' (Evans, 1969) *'' Irenangelus lukosanus'' (Wahis, 2007) *'' Irenangelus luzonensis'' (Rohwer, 1919) *'' Irenangelus madescassus'' (Wahis, 1988) *'' Irenangelus mexicanus'' (Turner 1917) *'' Irenangelus nambui'' (Shimizu, 2007) *'' Irenangelus pernix'' (Bingham, 1896) *'' Irenangelus punctipleuris'' (Wahis, 2007) *'' Irenangelus reversus'' (Smith, 1873) *'' Irenangelus townesorum'' (Evans, 1969) *'' Irenangelus tucumanus'' (Evans, 1969)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q26715681 Ceropalinae Hymenoptera genera